Have you ever been on public transportation and spotted someone watching a rather sappy and partially nude drama? I have, and my response is to awkwardly flit my eyes back toward the drama while the train gets massively delayed during the morning commute, and then look back at my phone, which has suddenly become a whole lot less interesting than the stranger’s screen.
Today, Netflix released its survey of thousands of public bingers, which found that plenty of people notice when others are snooping over their shoulder to see what they’re watching, and most aren’t embarrassed by said snoopers.
Of the 37,056 people Netflix polled globally between August and September, 67 percent revealed themselves to be public bingers. Most of them, 77 percent, upon noticing snoopers, refused to turn off their show or film and just casually continued watching.
I’ve also observed people straight-out guffawing at the dramas they’re streaming on the bus, and Netflix found that the majority (65 percent) of public bingers burst out laughing, while a smaller minority has cried (20 percent). Even more absurdly, a fair amount of people have had strangers interrupt their shows to start talking about what they’re watching (27 percent).
Next time around, I might just keep watching over people’s shoulders. Hey, it’s almost like free Netflix.
